Today's fiber optic based networks use transceivers as the interface between electronics and optical signals that propagate on the optical fiber and at other points in the network where information is converted between electronic form and optical form.
Optical devices, including optical, photonic and optoelectronic devices and components are used to transmit, code, receive, and decode optical data for transmission on an optical fiber. The optical devices are interfaced to a variety of electronic circuits which are used to control the devices and components, as well as interface data in electronic form on the transmit and receive side, code and decode electronic data, perform other functions like clock recovery and error correction and realize functions required to control an environment of the circuitry including temperature, wavelength and other tunable laser functions and functions of the interface optics and circuits that are used to realize a fully operational tunable laser and tunable subassembly.
Programmable optical devices, such as transmitters, optical subassemblies, and transceivers, based on a tunable laser, require many control systems to support the functions of the tunable laser and support the control, monitoring and communications functionality. A widely tunable laser includes multiple sections, generally including a gain section, a tunable phase section, and tunable mirror sections and in some designs a tunable filter section is also incorporated. Tuning the physical parameters of these sections results in tuning of an output laser wavelength. Other parameters of the tunable laser include an optical data modulator, if it is integrated or not integrated, and other functions like power control, wavelength locking, linewidth narrowing and control, modulation control, higher order modulation, or the like, performance of which may be enhanced using the present disclosure.
Examples of prior art references may include “Control of Widely Tunable SSG-DBR Lasers for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 18, No. 8, August 2000; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,954,476; 6,788,719; 6,690,693; and U.S. Pat. App. No. 2004/0120372, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Known prior art programmable wavelength tunable transmitters, such as transmitter optical subsystem assembly (TOSA), transceivers and other communications optical subassemblies, however, are not programmable in real-time and thus lack flexibility and responsiveness at the optical layer. Further, as the existing devices lack real time programmability, there is a high cost associated with planning, building, operating and maintaining data center networks.